On , Chanel wrote to the government administrator charged with ruling on the disposition of Jewish financial assets.

Her grounds for proprietary ownership were based on the claim that "Parfums Chanel" "is still the property of Jews" and had been legally "abandoned" by the owners.

The bottle, over decades, has itself become an identifiable cultural artifact, so much so that Andy Warhol chose to commemorate its iconic status in the mid-1980s with his pop art, silk-screen, Ads: Chanel.

In 1924, Chanel made an agreement with the Wertheimer brothers, Pierre and Paul, directors of the eminent perfume house Bourjois since 1917, creating a corporate entity, "Parfums Chanel." The Wertheimers agreed to provide full financing for production, marketing and distribution of Chanel No. The Wertheimers would receive a seventy percent share of the company, and Théophile Bader, founder of the Paris department store, Galeries Lafayette, would receive twenty percent.

The first bottle produced in 1919, differed from the Chanel No. The original container had small, delicate, rounded shoulders and was sold only in Chanel boutiques to select clients.

In 1924, when "Parfums Chanel" incorporated, the glass proved too thin to sustain shipping and distribution.

Chanel was not aware that the Wertheimers, anticipating the forthcoming Nazi mandates against Jews had, in May 1940, legally turned control of "Parfums Chanel" over to a Christian, French businessman and industrialist Felix Amiot.In the 1970s the stopper became even more prominent but, in 1986, it was re-proportioned so its size was more harmonious with the scale of the bottle.The "pocket flacon" devised to be carried in the purse was introduced in 1934.The Wertheimers were cognizant of Chanel's far from exemplary social entanglements and conduct during the Nazi occupation.The progress of legal proceedings would of necessity lead to revelations best kept from public scrutiny.Chanel's initial marketing strategy was to generate buzz around her new fragrance by hosting a promotional event. 5 was in her rue Cambon boutique in the fifth month of the year, on the fifth day of the month: . Chanel's friend Misia Sert exclaimed: "It was like a winning lottery ticket." "Parfums Chanel" was the corporate entity established in 1924 to run the production, marketing and distribution of the fragrance business. 5 from beyond her boutiques to the rest of the world.